Wild Fowling A Season New

Wild Fowling A Season New
​2024/2025

As the title suggests its my favourite time of year once again, All Spring and Summer I have laid up dormant, dreaming of the time when I can get back out after wildfowl, the smell of the water, the wind on my back, a little rain the air and the soft sweet sound of wildfowl on the wing, their wing beats whistling a chorus only a true wild fowler knows, the sounds of the honks, quacks and whistles filling the air making my heart race, ole Goose my Cocker Spaniel feels the same too, he knows when I put his Jack Pyke Wildfowling jacket on him were off after duck and geese, he becomes a completely different dog, from the joyful playful funny little dog, put that coat on him and he becomes a very serious dog single minded on his job, he has the heart of a lion and as bold as all the paw prints that has been left before him, actually the picture above made me chuckle and think of Goose whilst writing this.

​But first we start off in early August 2024, already Goose knows something is up as I get out the wildfowling gear, check its all good and my calls are working well before heading off out on my professional pest control rounds, as always Goose comes almost everywhere with me, in fact as I type he is curled up next to me on his fleece wildfowl blanket I got him at the game fair, he is whimpering, barking in his sleep bless him dreaming of momentous wildfowl flights as the duck and geese slip air paddles down as Dad drops them for him to retrieve.

I had a to go to a meeting with an agricultural society, this was to arrange a series of talks on red squirrel protection and grey squirrel management, but also the possible opportunity to arrange some Lantra Accredited training courses for them on grey squirrel control for which I am one of the pest control trainers.

I decided to take an old 20 bore with me and one box of cartridges, I was asked to look in on a field of blown flat barley next to a standing crop of maize by a farming friend on my way home as I would be passing right by, typical me really always take a musket with me when exercising Goose always have done with every dog that's ever owned me, often putting a rabbit or something in the bag for supper that night, I will get to this further down in the article.​

Meeting over I called in to said field, as soon as we got out of the car Goose flushed around 200 wood pigeons off the crop. I decided to stand in on a clear flight line, it had been many years since I had shot this field as it had been a grass field for the best part of ten years, I was glad the pigeons membered said flight line as I did, all I will say is for half an hour then I ran out of cartridges we had some fine shooting, I finally picked up 21 pigeons for 25 shots, that little old 20 bore shot like a dream, I let Goose retrieve a few and than let him rest for a bit whilst I picked some black berries, we then picked the rest of the birds, I telle that little dog has some nose on him and eyes like a hawk.

​The next big thing was I and my Team from The Somerset Branch of The Masonic Fishing Charity (www.mtsfc.org) put on a trout and course fishing full day, fully paid for by us for a group of service men and women suffering from PTSD and more, this was for the charity Mesh (www.meshcic.co.uk) a wonderful charity and great people, the day was a roaring success and every participant went home with a bag of fresh caught trout, a medal and a certificate and full bellies from the BBQ we laid on too.

The next big thing I did this month was along with my hand picked team, we launched The Somerset Masonic Shooting Club, this is for subscribing Somerset Craft Freemasons only, we affiliated to the National Masonic Shooting Association, if you are a Somerset Freemason go over to the Adair Club Website at www.youngmasons.co.uk for more information, they are kindly letting us borrow a page on their website whilst we have our own website built, we launched the club of an established day for Gordano Lodge in in conjunction with The Adair Club, the official light blues Freemasons club of Somerset, we had over 50 Freemasons and their family and guests there, we had lots of trophies up for grabs and the food was wonderful, this was all held at The Mendip Shooting Ground here in Somerset, with a fantastic day had by all.

The next big thing was I and all my Pass It On Young Sports were invited to a rifle range day by my dear friend Wayne, he is the head honcho and pointy hat wearer of The CZ Owners Club, I also found out this day I was a founder member, who knew? The day was held at a home office range they have access too, I also ended up being a range officer this day too, everyone got to try everything from air rifles, .22lrs using Eley Ammunition right up to some really big bores indeed, all being sponsored by The CZ Owners Club and Really Wild Adventure (www.reallywildadventures.co.uk) by golly did we get through some ammunition, the smiles just kept getting wider and wider on the Young Sports and us HMMMM not so Young Sport. A particular highlight was the night vision and thermal shoot in the dark range, using Night Pearl and ATN products but to name a couple, we finished the day off with a practical shotgun course, this proved to be a lot of fun and something new some of the guys want to get into now, were already planning the 2025 event now.

Now I am going to touch on a subject that is very dear to my heart, I have been a victim of this my whole life, no that's incorrect, I am not a victim I am a survivor, I have learnt to be a warrior with sword and shield in hand, to stand up against this foe and support the weak and defend against this evil demon where ever it strikes, I am talking about BULLYING in all its forms. It has many disguises and names, I don't care what you call it, Nobody but nobody has the right to bully another in any form, physically, mentally, corporately or professionally etc, just recently I have been and still am in some ways being attacked or tried to made to feel intimidated, I will not stand for it, I draw a line in the dirt as my Pappy (Grandfather) taught me, you best be ready for a bloody nose I warn you if you bully me, I don't mean physically, I mean symbolically, I will speak out loudly against you, something bullies rely on is you hiding away, so remember if you are faced with a bully in any form from domestic abuse and more speak out there is help out there, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, is in fact I will share a wonderful song at the bottom of this piece if the article, entitled You've Got Stand For Something its how my Pappy taught me The Rough Ole Country Boy way, funny enough I have found if you stand up to a bully in any form they start to shrink eventually and disappear, a word that is often used in Freemasonry is Insidious, to repel the attacks of The Insidious I didn't actually know what this word meant, but whilst writing this for some reason I was compelled to look it up, quite an apt I think in this case, I wont dilate any further on this subject as I can get quite passionate about this, but remember whatever your going through YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

I had to go back to an agricultural visitor centre to deal with a huge feral pigeon problem, the local town has a non lethal pest control approach, by this the pest controller there flies a Harris Hawk about scaring the feral pigeons out of the shopping precinct, in turn it makes them descend on mass to this agricultural visitor centre, so its then my job to deal with them humanly.​

I got there and the amount of pigeon poo everywhere was a real public health problem, the staff constantly scrubbing and disinfecting everything, the man power alone was costing a small fortune on this, everything that could be done was done from reproofing, to keeping doors windows etc closed, bird scarers the lot, but still the feral pigeons kept coming.

My first Job was to get the ferals where I could safely deal with them, where they were I deemed them unsafe for the air rifle due to the location of livestock, windows etc,, I did this my going back to my boyhood and a skill my Pappy taught me for knocking over hole hoping rabbits when we were ferreting, by this I mean using a catapult, I still enjoy doing this now out ferreting so have never lost the skills, today I was using some biodegradable mud balls a bit like paint balls, this worked a treat and kept the birds on the wing, so I could deal with them with the ole Mossberg Hush Power 410 Pump action shotgun using Eley Hawk Cartridges, I must say that ole gun, those cartridges and yours truly made a great team and accounted for quite a bag of feral pigeons, until they wise up that was, then it was the ole Air Arms S510 Ultimate Sporter that came out to play and filled the bag further, funny enough boys with be boys, we never grow up our toys just get bigger and more expensive, the site manager seeing me with the catapult insisted on having a go, the empty soft drink cans never knew what hit them.

The next job I did was a rabbit job, one of my oldest clients called me in to his home not his business, he has a wonder horse riding farm basically for his daughters and wife who are horse crazy, rabbits had moved back in and were eating all the grass, destroying his prize lawns and orchards, plus digging up his riding arena and scaring the horses when his daughters were riding in said arena.

I went in in and basically just shot from the truck, very civil I must say, especially as piping hot mugs of tea and biscuits were literally on tap, he also said help yourself to the orchards and take as much fruit as you like including the black berries, well that’s jolly decent of you old man.​

I bagged a pile of rabbits whilst there, but the first two I kept for myself as I really fancied some KFR (Kentucky Fried Rabbit) thos that have my cook books have this recipe, the rest of the rabbits went to the local butchers, the fruit I shared out amongst family and friends as well as keeping some for myself, I am booked to go back here later this week.

The First Day of The Wild Fowling Season 2024-2025, the night before was actually the 1st of September, but as we cant shoot wildfowl here in Somerset on a Sunday, I would have to wait until Monday the 2nd of September, goose knew something was up as we were both like cats on hot tin roofs this night, I could not do morning flight as I had work commitments I could not get out of, but come hell or high water Goose and I was not missing evening flight that for sure.​

For me its not about shooting a duck or goose, or even loading the gun, its about marking the start of this wonderful season and our oldest Shooting Sport, its about remembering all who has gone on before me, like Marc Ray my dear friend who died of a massive heart attack whilst on his way to meet me on the 1st of September 2009, all the others too like my Pappy and all of the dogs that have owned us, wonderful flight and more, those that have my first book will know where my passion started in the chapter aptly named Teal Time.

For no more reason than nostalgia I took my ole 1881 Peterson’s and Son’s of Peterborough 16 Bore Hammer Gun with me, she is as tight as a drum and as sweet on the eyes as she is in the arms. Goose and I made our way down to one of my wild ponds just a hop skip and a jump from the fore shore, it was a wonderful soft night, a little wind about, the clouds raced across the sky like chariots, the rain at our back and all was still and peaceful in my world, no doubt about it you have to be a little bonkers to be a wildfowler.​

As the day gave way to the night a barn owl came and sat on the gate post not six feet away, it seemed like a life time he was sat there until he saw us, but it was more like only a few seconds, but what an encounter, I heard another duck caller calling his calls, I almost gave up my position and wandered over to give them a lesson on calling, but Goose and I were just content to be back out doing what we love best, I would love to write about duck and geese slipping air paddles down, with the air filled with the sound of wildfowl, but no we did not see or hear a single duck or goose this flight, but you know what my heart was so full from just being there Goose and I left smiling like Cheshire Cats who had just got the cream, Oh Yes I am Alive Once more.

I hope you have enjoyed my humble scribbles, until the next time stay safe and well one and all.

FOR TIZ PROPER JOB MUCKER I TELLE.

Wild Fowling A Season New 2024/2025​

By The Ole Hedge Creeper
www.theolehedgecreeper.co.uk